Map Man
Encyclopedia
Map Man is a BBC
documentary
series first broadcast on BBC Two
in 2004. Each episode recounts a particular tale in the history of British cartography
, with a particular emphasis on the individuals whose dedication and ingenuity led to the production of some of history's most ground-breaking maps.
The show is presented by explorer and writer Nicholas Crane
, each week travelling some distance by bicycle, water or on foot to recreate the often treacherous journeys taken in the creation of that episode's map.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentary
Television documentary
Documentary television is a genre of television programming that broadcasts documentaries.* Documentary television series, a television series which is made up of documentary episodes....
series first broadcast on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
in 2004. Each episode recounts a particular tale in the history of British cartography
Cartography
Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...
, with a particular emphasis on the individuals whose dedication and ingenuity led to the production of some of history's most ground-breaking maps.
The show is presented by explorer and writer Nicholas Crane
Nicholas Crane
Nicholas Crane is an English geographer, explorer, writer and broadcaster. Since 2004, he has written and presented four notable television series for BBC Two: Coast, Great British Journeys, Map Man and Town....
, each week travelling some distance by bicycle, water or on foot to recreate the often treacherous journeys taken in the creation of that episode's map.
Series one
The first series began on BBC Two on 16 September 2004.- William RoyWilliam RoyMajor-General William Roy FRS was a Scottish military engineer, surveyor, and antiquarian. He was an innovator who applied new scientific discoveries and newly emerging technologies to the accurate geodetic mapping of Great Britain....
’s Military Survey of Scotland (1747-53) - John OgilbyJohn OgilbyJohn Ogilby was a Scottish translator, impresario and cartographer. Best known for publishing the first British road atlas, he was also a successful translator, noted for publishing his work in handsome illustrated editions.-Life:Ogilby was born in or near Killemeare in November 1600...
’s "Britannia" (1675) - Harry BeckHarry BeckHenry Charles Beck , known as Harry Beck, was an English engineering draftsman best known for creating the present London Underground Tube map in 1931. Beck drew up the diagram in his spare time while working as an engineering draftsman at the London Underground Signals Office...
’s London Underground Map (1933) - The Gough MapGough MapThe Gough Map or Bodleian Map is a map of the island of Great Britain, dating between 1355 and 1366, and is the oldest surviving route map of Great Britain. Its precise date of production and authorship are unknown. It is named after Richard Gough, who donated the map to the Bodleian Library in 1809...
(1360s) - Greenville CollinsGreenville CollinsGreenville Collins , was an English captain in the royal navy and hydrographer.Collins was in 1679 appointed commander of the Lark, a small frigate, apparently in some connection with the duties of the Trinity House, of which Collins was a younger brother...
’ "Coasting Pilot" (1693) - William SmithWilliam Smith (geologist)William 'Strata' Smith was an English geologist, credited with creating the first nationwide geological map. He is known as the "Father of English Geology" for collating the geological history of England and Wales into a single record, although recognition was very slow in coming...
’s Geological Map of England & Wales (1815) - Christopher SaxtonChristopher SaxtonChristopher Saxton was an English cartographer, probably born in the parish of Dewsbury, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England around 1540....
’s Atlas of England & Wales (1577) - Martin HotineMartin HotineBrigadier Martin Hotine CMG CBE was the head of the Trigonometrical and Levelling Division of the Ordnance Survey responsible for the 26 year long retriangulation of Great Britain and was the first Director General of the Directorate of Overseas Surveys .According to Nicholas Crane :...
’s Ordnance SurveyOrdnance SurveyOrdnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
(1935-1950)
Series Two (2005)
The second series ran on BBC Two from 5 September 2005.- BartholomewJohn Bartholomew and SonCollins Bartholomew, formerly John Bartholomew and Son, is a long-established map publishing company originally based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is currently a subsidiary of HarperCollins.-History:...
's Cycling Map of England and Wales (1896-1903) - Timothy PontTimothy PontTimothy Pont was a Scottish topographer, the first to produce a detailed map of Scotland. Pont's maps are among the earliest surviving to show a European country in minute detail, from an actual survey.-Life:...
's Maps of Scotland (c1583) - MacKenzieMurdoch MacKenzieMurdoch MacKenzie was a 17th century Scottish minister and prelate. Born around 1600, his family was an offshoot of the kin of the earls of Seaforth. After being ordained by John Maxwell, Bishop of Ross, he served as a chaplain in a regiment of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden during the Thirty...
's Chart of the Orkney Islands (1748) - John SpeedJohn SpeedJohn Speed was an English historian and cartographer.-Life:He was born at Farndon, Cheshire, and went into his father's tailoring business where he worked until he was about 50...
's "Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine" (1611–12) - John CaryJohn CaryJohn Cary was an 18th century English cartographer.Cary served his apprenticeship as an engraver in London, before setting up his own business in the Strand in 1783...
's "Inland Navigation" (1796) - William MudgeWilliam MudgeWilliam Mudge was an English artillery officer and surveyor, an important figure in the work of the Ordnance Survey.-Life:He was a son of Dr. John Mudge of Plymouth, by his second wife, and grandson of Zachariah Mudge, and was born at Plymouth on 1 December 1762...
's Ordnance SurveyOrdnance SurveyOrdnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
, 1st Edition, (1809) - Mrs PPhyllis PearsallPhyllis Pearsall, MBE was a painter and writer, and the creator of the A to Z map of London.-Early years:She was born Phyllis Isobella Gross in East Dulwich, London on 25 September 1906...
's A-ZGeographer's A–Z Street AtlasThe A–Z or A to Zed, or in full the Geographers' A–Z Street Atlas, is a name given to any one of a range of atlases of streets in the United Kingdom currently produced by Geographers' A-Z Map Company Limited. The first atlas, of London, was originally compiled in the 1930s by Phyllis Pearsall...
(1936) - Thomas Raven's "Clandeboye EstateClandeboye EstateThe Clandeboye Estate is a country estate located in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland, outside Belfast. Covering , it contains woodlands, formal and walled gardens, lawns, a lake, and of farmland...
Maps", Ireland (1625–26)